trees excepting some of the hazels. Unless hazels, particularly American
hazels, are very well rooted, they will need more care the first year
than most nut trees, particularly protection from the hot sun and
drought. If I get poorly rooted hazels I now plant them in a shady place
for a year or two if they have not grown well the first year, and then
move them where they are to stay.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Snyder of Center Point advocates planting trees two
to four inches deeper.
DR. MORRIS: In Dr. Brooks' paper he spoke of some of the twig girdlers
in the beetle stage which feed upon the bark of twigs before
ovipositing, and he said that gives a weak point where we may attack
them. On my place at Stamford, where there are forests, that would be
impossible. I have had a good many hazels partially destroyed this year
by girdlers. A great many of the branches have the larvae in them. I
find also a large number of small hazels on which the leaves and
branches are dying, though there is no apparent injury to the bark.
Suddenly, however, a little twig will drop off and yet, in cutting into
them, I did not find any larvae.
DR. BROOKS: That happens to be the work of an insect which I am just
beginning to study, one of the flat-headed borers, and the reason you
have not seen the larva is that it is very small. It is not half an inch
long. In the second year it comes out as an adult. I judge that control
measures should be used in the spring, when I think without doubt that
it would feed on the poisoned spray.
DR. MORRIS: I find a great many larvae in dead twigs on the ground. If
we are going to get this pest out of the way, we should not only look at
the twigs on the tree, but at those on the ground as well.
DR. BROOKS: That is true of all of these curculios. Dr. Morris'
statement is true. The ground should be gone over and the dead and dying
branches and twigs of the trees should be collected. The insects mature
in them.
DR. COLLINS: Would you advocate pruning often?
DR. BROOKS: No.
Adjournment to lecture hall. Mr. Henry Hicks of Westbury, Long Island,
gave a talk on the transplanting of large trees by his methods,
illustrated with lantern slides. This was followed by a talk with
lantern slides, on
HEREDITY IN TREES AND PLANTS
_By Dr. A. F. Blakeslee, New York_
Dr. Blakeslee said in part:
One of the first things we notice as we go out into the open is
diversity in the habits of trees and plants. It is through the details
thus presented that we are able to distinguish one species from another.
You can see this diversity the year round in nut trees, and in the nuts.
If you arrange nuts, or any other objects for that matter, in a curve
according to size, you will find that the most numerous of them are of
about the average size. This is equally true when applied to mankind.
What is the reason?
There are a number of factors affecting this, but, in general, there are
two main causes--environment and heredity. We do not know which is the
more important but both are absolutely necessary.
In the picture being shown we see the influence of the black walnut upon
plants around it. It creates an environment which influences the ability
of other plants to grow near the roots.
It must be remembered, however, that what the animate plant transmits is
not the actual character in question, but the ability of the animate
plant to develop characteristics. By placing the plant near a black
walnut tree we do not affect anything but the capacity of the plant to
develop in certain directions.
I have shown here a diagram to illustrate a certain stock fertilization.
Here we have the plant with its stamen and pistils, the egg cells and
the pollen. There are two types of pollenization, one where the pistil
is fertilized by insects carrying sticky pollen; the other by movement
of the wind carrying the pollen. If I should believe my records, in
attempts to cross trees, I might have a cross between a birch and an
alder, in which the pollen is carried by the wind. I tried once to
hybridize pines. I put some pitch pine pollen on the female flower of
another species and seed resulted. I did this the second year and again
I got seed. The third year I put bags on the female flowers before I
could see them developing. Then I got no seeds. I believe that the
pollen which had caused the seed to set in the preceding instances had
come from the south for perhaps hundreds of miles.
There are times when the pollen of the staminate plant is all shed
before the pistillate gets ready. Sometimes we have a plant that is self
sterile. I have experimented with pollen from several different nut
trees and also with the Norway spruce. Then again, there are abnormal
cases; sometimes there is parthenogenesis. The jimson weed is the first
plant which has ever been reproduced by parthenogenesis. Since that was
discovered, an investigator in California has found a similar case in
fruit developed without pollination.
One of the most important conceptions in heredity is its effect upon
characters and factors. Take the Japanese bean here shown for example,
one dark bean and one mottled. In the next hybrid generation we find
three mottled and one dark. That is the familiar "three to one" ratio of
Mendel's law. We believe now, that all, or at least a very large
proportion of the heredity characters in plants of all kinds may be due
to a series of factors; but the habit of growth of the plant is due to a
single factor. We have the case here of a second generation of the
weeping mulberry that I crossed with the white mulberry. As a result
there was an average of three erects to one weeping one. Certain
characteristics may be made up of the inter-action of a large number of
factors. This will give a little idea as to the complexity of Mendel's
law.
How do we get new characters in nature? New types are due to the
rearrangement of previously existing characters, just as with the
old-fashioned kaleidoscope, where you turn the crank and get new
pictures. Another way is by the sudden appearance of new factors.
I wish to speak about one effect of hybridization, which is really
connected with heredity factors, the vigor which occurs when we cross
different varieties, species, or even races. In my experience certain
types that have been naturally contrasted finally lose vigor, and after
two or three generations the plant disappears. Then again I could show
you cases where yields are greatly increased due to hybridity. These are
established facts, not only as regards species of plants and trees but
also as regards the human race. Hemy, in Dublin, who has done the best
work in this line of endeavor, believes that many of our more
rapid-growing trees are rapid-growing because they are hybrids.
To summarize, I have tried to point out the fact that diversity which we
see in nature is real, and that it is brought about by two causes,
namely, environment, and heredity. And that heredity is brought about by
factors in the bodies of the chromosomes which are shuffled around like
cards in a pack; they reappear in the same way that the cards will
reappear. We have no means, as yet, of controlling the appearance of the
factors, but we have two methods of getting new factors, as follows:
One--The finding of new things in nature; that, probably, is the very
best method that can be used. The work of the theoretically planned
project points out the tremendous importance of the exceptional
individual.
Two--By taking the exceptional individuals, and by crossing them, you
can recombine, although the results may be very complex, and obtain
characters that are very desirable.
As ministers sometimes say to clinch the moral, I would say, "Seek
earnestly that which is best and hold fast to that which is good."
THE PRESIDENT: Has anyone a question he would like to ask?
DR. MORRIS: In attempting to make crosses between juglans and carya we
find often that the pollen of carya will excite the cell of the juglans
but without making a fusion. What is the element of the male cell of the
hickory which starts the female cell of the walnut into action?
THE SECRETARY: I would like to ask Dr. Blakeslee one thing; he showed
the influence of the black walnut on the growth of the hedge, and he
showed that something other than the effect from the black walnut had
caused these plants to be dwarfed. Is that understood to be a fact?
DR. BLAKESLEE: No; some of the effect was due to the black walnut.
MR. HICKS: In some cases the trees get sick and die. I have observed
many plants and trees growing close to walnuts and I can point out peach
trees and other fruits planted close to black walnut trees which have
been injured. I should like to see the question determined.
MR. O'CONNOR: On Mr. Littlepage's place it seems that some blackberries
thrive better in the shade of the walnut tree than anywhere else.
DR. BROOKS: In West Virginia there is a locality where blackberries grow
wild, and it is a matter of common knowledge that black berries will
grow under the black walnut but that apple trees will not grow there. I
have noticed that the best place to plant jimson seed is under the black
walnut trees. I have no definite information about this but there is
something in the influence of the black walnut trees.
MR. BIXBY: I have noticed at my place that cabbages planted under black
walnut trees were somewhat stunted. I believe that it was the effect of
the walnut trees growing so speedily that there was not enough
nourishment for both.
THE PRESIDENT: The next lantern slide lecture will be by Mr. Reed.
MR. REED: (This lecture was delivered in a darkened hall where it was
not possible for the reporter to take notes. However, the gist of the
talk is here given).
The slides illustrated various methods of nut tree propagation, and that
it is possible successfully to graft or bud nut trees at almost any time
from February until the very end of the growing period. In working over
large trees the first method in the season to be employed was shown to
be that of the cleft graft. Following this, with large stocks, would be
the slip-bark graft, or with smaller stocks, the chip-bud. The slip-bark
graft has the advantage of being feasible at any time when the bark
slips. Dormant scions are more often used with this form of propagation,
although by no means necessary, as Dr. Morris has demonstrated that by
applying a coat of paraffin over the entire scion and the cut surfaces
of the stock, it is possible to use growing scions at almost any time
when they can be obtained. The chip-bud is most successful during a
relatively short period, beginning about ten days before the buds begin
to swell and continuing until after the trees are practically in full
leaf. From this time on the patch, or some other modification of the
annular bud, is most commonly used.
In top-working, when the cleft-graft has failed, the patch-bud may be
used late in summer, by inserting buds of the current season's growth
in the base of the new shoots springing up from below where the cut was
made in the stock for the graft, thus affording two opportunities for
propagation during the same season.
The slides showed various methods of propagating the filbert by
layering, and of propagating more difficult species by inarching. They
were from a collection soon to be placed in the hands of the extension
Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and of the various state
colleges of agriculture.
THE PRESIDENT: We will now adjourn, and will meet in the room upstairs
in this building at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.
SECOND DAY--MORNING SESSION
Meeting called to order by the President, at 10 a. m.
THE PRESIDENT: I have the great pleasure of introducing to you Dr. Howe,
Assistant Director of the Botanical Gardens.
DR. HOWE: I shall only take a minute to say that we are delighted to
have you here, and that if we can do anything to assist you, or to
perpetuate your success, I hope you will please let us know. As the
Spaniards say, "The house is yours."
I hope that your visit will be so pleasant that you may find it
convenient to come here again.
THE SECRETARY: Mr. Jones will you tell us something about the handling
of seeds for planting?
MR. JONES: I did not give the subject any thought before coming here but
I might say that the nuts should be gathered promptly and dried, placing
them in a shady spot, for they can be injured where the sun is too warm.
We stratify them in sand. Then in the spring you can sift the sand
through a sieve, take out the nuts and plant them.
In stratifying chestnuts we keep them between layers of wire mesh, for
mice are very fond of these nuts. We cover the nuts with sand and
leaves. Chinkapins we usually keep in cold storage.
THE SECRETARY: When you stratify these nuts where do you keep them?
MR. JONES: Right out in the open on top of the ground. A frame may be
made with wire nailed on the bottom. This may be set out anywhere in the
garden, but down a little into the dirt. Put in the nuts between layers
of sand and leaves.
THE SECRETARY: Mr. Kelsey told me that the best way he had found to keep
nuts was to bury them in a deep hole, perhaps two feet deep. Have you
had experience with that way?
MR. JONES: The way I described is the usual way to keep seed and we get
very fine results. We do that in order to keep the seed cool and so that
they will not dry out. But we always have to watch out for mice. It
might be a good idea, in stratifying chestnuts in the box with wire mesh
on the bottom, to place the box at an angle that would drain off at
least part of the water.
THE SECRETARY: Dr. Zimmerman, have you anything to say?
DR. ZIMMERMAN: I discovered by accident that black walnuts and hickories
could be kept very nicely in the dry state until spring; then put water
on them and they will sprout very nicely. But my chestnuts get moldy
that way.
MR. BIXBY: We cover the nuts with at least a sprinkle of earth, may be
four or five inches.
THE SECRETARY: Mr. Jones would keep them with practically no dirt but
with sand and leaves.
MR. JONES: I would use a little sand over them, two parts of sand to one
part of nuts. We put in six inches of nuts and alternating layers of
sand.
DR. BROOKS: I know of a man who puts a layer of chestnuts and one of
moss and says that in the spring the nuts are in splendid condition.
MR. BIXBY: I have had the nuts sprout very much better when they were
stratified as soon as gathered.
MR. O'CONNOR: I bought about 5 bushels of black walnuts, paying 75 cents
a bushel for them. I simply dumped them out on the ground, not bothering
about the shucks at all, and covered them over with dirt. I paid no more
attention to them until spring. Then I put the nuts in trenches with
dirt about 5 inches over the top. The mice did not bother them, and I
think they did well that way.
THE PRESIDENT: Did the frost affect them?
MR. O'CONNOR: No, not at all.
THE PRESIDENT: I have a black walnut tree at home that started to grow
in a neighbor's cellar. It had grown a foot and a half and was rather
white in color. I cut off the top and planted it out in the open. Today
the tree is still growing and is all right.
We will now have an address by Prof. Neilson, of Canada.
PROF. NEILSON: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a real
pleasure for me to get back to this convention once more. I tried to
come last year but owing to certain difficulties I was not able to do
so.
Before I give you my report on nut culture in Canada, I want to tell you
some of my troubles. Two or three years ago, when I began to express my
interest in nut culture, I thought it would be a good idea to get some
nuts from China. I wrote to several missionaries in Northwestern China
at about our latitude, and I finally secured five bushels of Persian
walnuts and one bushel of Chinese chestnuts. The nuts were a long time
on the road and very few were in fit condition to use when they arrived.
I stored some of the Persian walnuts in our cellar at the Ontario
College. The rest of the nuts I distributed to others.
The nuts at the college did not fare very well. When I left there I gave
directions to the members of the Department to look after them
carefully. This is how they did it. Someone broke into the cellar where
the nuts were stratified in the sand, and ran off with about one bushel.
The Chinese chestnuts arrived in about the same condition as the Chinese
walnuts. Of these I managed to save about a peck. We divided the nuts
into three equal lots. Some we kept at the Guelph Experiment Station,
some at Vineland, and some in the Southwestern Station. Of those at
Guelph, out of the whole lot, 35 nuts germinated, and of these the mice
ate all but five. These five were taken outside and carefully placed in
a flat; but someone came along and ran into the flat and smashed those
five plants all to pieces.
In addition to this some of my friends tried to tell me that I was
chasing wild geese; that nut trees would not ever be important
commercially in Canada; that 99 per cent of the value of the nut tree
was for shade anyhow (as if he meant shade for pigs and cows); and that
they were not even ornamental.
Before I read my paper, however, I will say that the work I am now doing
is somewhat different from that I had when I was last here, when I was
Prof. of Horticulture. I am now doing extension work for the
government.
PROGRESS REPORT ON NUT CULTURE IN CANADA
_Jas. A. Neilson, M. S., Extension Horticulturist, Horticultural
Experiment Station, Vineland, Ontario_
During the season of 1923-24 there has been a marked increase in the
interest shown in the culture of nut bearing trees in all parts of
Canada where nut trees can be grown. This is indicated by the numerous
letters of enquiry and personal requests for information on nut culture
which have been received by our Station. A total of 450 letters were
received or sent out by our office during the past year besides numerous
enquiries answered by a personal visit.
The search for good nut trees has resulted in some interesting additions
to the data presented in the paper published in the last report. One of
the most gratifying features of this phase of the work has been the
discovery of several new localities where the European filbert is
growing successfully. It has been located or reported at twenty widely
separate points in Ontario, the northernmost of which is on Wolf Island
at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in approximately 44,100 N. Lat.
This plantation is said to have been established before 1840 and would
therefore be nearly 90 years old. Another interesting point in
connection with filberts is the amazing way in which they thrive under
conditions of absolute neglect. Several of the plantations observed
during the past year were not given the slightest attention and yet were
doing very nicely. Obviously this is not good practice but it would seem
to indicate that excellent results could be secured in Southern Ontario
by the proper choice of varieties and the best cultural methods. This
survey also showed that the sweet chestnut grew as far north as Georgian
Bay.
The prize nut contest staged by our office last autumn resulted in the
discovery of some very good black walnuts and a fine Japanese heartnut.
Samples of these are shown in some of the plates on the table.
The Persian walnut was found to have a wider distribution and is more
abundant in Ontario than was expected when our nut survey began. About
150 bearing trees have been located in that part of Ontario extending
from Toronto on Lake Ontario to Goderich on Lake Huron. This number of
course will seem insignificant in comparison to the numbers of trees in
some sections of the northern United States, but it must not be
forgotten that Ontario is on the northern margin of the Persian walnut
territory, and therefore the results are rather encouraging.
Several fine Paragon chestnut trees have been located which bear good
crops and which appear to be resistant to chestnut blight. This disease
has unfortunately appeared at several places in Ontario and will
undoubtedly destroy the majority of our chestnut trees.
The members of this association will be interested to learn that
Gellatly Brothers of Gellatly, B. C., prepared and sent to the British
Empire Exhibition at Wembley a large collection of nuts that has
attracted a great deal of attention and favorable comment. This should
do a great deal toward advertising the nut cultural possibilities of
that province and of Canada generally.
The trial plantations on the experiment station grounds are doing very
well indeed. The black walnuts are making a fine growth and one variety
the McCoy, has a good crop of nuts at two years from planting. The Ten
Eyck is making an extremely rapid growth, in some cases, producing new
shoots over four feet in length.
The English walnuts are also making a good growth and two varieties,
Mayette and Hall, have borne nuts in the third season.
I am pleased to state that we now have about 100 seedlings of the
Chinese walnut growing on the station grounds and at various other
points in Ontario. These little trees seem to be making a more rapid
growth than our seedlings of the "Ontario," a Persian walnut which is a
native of St. Catharines.
We also have about 60 seedlings of the Persian walnut from the Northern
slopes of the Carpathian Mountains in the Ukranian region of what used
to be the old Austrian-Hungarian Empire. These nuts were obtained from
Rev. Paul Crath, of Toronto, who informs me that the winter temperatures
in that part of Europe often go lower than in Toronto. We hope for some
interesting developments from the growth of these trees because of the
rigorous climatic condition of their native land.
During the latter part of the past winter an experiment was conducted in
propagating the walnut under greenhouse conditions. For this purpose 100
well grown one year black walnut seedlings were obtained from our
forestry station at St. Williams in the late autumn and heeled in out of
doors until about February 1st. These were then brought inside, planted
in 8 inch pots and placed in the greenhouse where they were allowed to
remain until a good leaf growth had been produced. The young trees were
then side cleft grafted with scions of the best English walnuts in the
district. While engaged in this work one of the trees was inadvertently
cut off a few inches above the ground. The stub was then whip grafted
and to my surprise it made a better growth than the others which had a
part of the top left on. The results of our experiment were much better
than I expected. About 40% of the scions grew which was quite
satisfactory considering that I was a mere novice in the art of grafting
nut trees and that my method was an experiment. I believe I could get 70
to 75% to grow with greater care in the selection and handling of
scions. The object in doing the work in the greenhouse was to obtain
better control conditions of moisture and temperature and thus reduce
the mortality of scions due to these factors.
I also outlined an experiment in propagating nut trees by cuttings as a
thesis subject for one of our fourth year horticultural students at the
O. A. C. In this experiment ten cuttings each of English walnut,
butternut, Japanese walnut, hickory, chestnut and black walnut were
planted in sand and watered at intervals with a 1 to 10,000 solution of
potassium permanganate. In the course of time the majority of cuttings
came out in leaf, but none formed roots, and hence soon died. It is
admitted that this experiment may have been improperly planned and
conducted, but it showed at any rate that it is not an easy matter to
propagate most nut plants by root or stem cuttings.
In 1923 I purchased with my own funds another lot, 1-1/2 bushels, of
good heartnuts and sent them in lots of about two dozen to the
secretaries of 125 horticultural societies, and to about 30 other
parties for trial planting. I found that this little contribution was
gratefully received and in many cases brought forth inquiries for the
names of people from whom good trees might be purchased. I do not
propose to carry on much more of this free distribution of nuts as that
would not be fair to the individuals themselves or to those engaged in
the propagation of nut trees. My chief reason for distributing these
nuts was to stimulate interest, and now that my objective has been
attained I will refer inquiring parties to reputable nut nurserymen.